Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

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Technology may be key, but people make the difference

Yesterday I alluded to a bank being like a human body, with technology its lifeblood.  However, if technology is the blood of the bank, then you need a healthy heart, brain and soul to make that blood flow.  That is why the bank’s management team and staff make the difference here, as technology is only…

Grids, clouds, parallelism and paralysis

We were debating Parallel Processing, Grids and Virutalisation in depth last week at the Tradetech Architecture conference.  Halfway through the conference, discussions of Amazon started en masse.  I have to say that until recently I thought Amazon was an online book store. Apparently not.  Amazon is a Cloud. Cloud computing is the hot discussion in…

Half of City accused of being drunk

Last month, City broker Venetia Thompson wrote a tell-all tale of hedonism and debauchery in London’s trading rooms, which was published in the Spectator.  This month, according to the Daily Mail, Venetia Thompson is on the dole queue (see endnote).    Mind you, looking at what she was saying, I’m not surprised.  Her article was…

Half of City accused of being drunk

Last month, City broker Venetia Thompson wrote a tell-all tale of hedonism and debauchery in London’s trading rooms, which was published in the Spectator.  This month, according to the Daily Mail, Venetia Thompson is on the dole queue (see endnote).    Mind you, looking at what she was saying, I’m not surprised.  Her article was…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…